Return: Silence and Secrets
by ShadowKnight49
Summary: No one had ever heard Ash's secret about something that happened in Unova... Until now. Serena finds out what happened the hard way. A dark enemy is making his way back to the physical world, and there is no stopping him. The best they can do is ignore it... until it's all over... (Amourshipping, Childhoodshipping, AASL, AshxSerena. Contains dark, gory features)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Disrupted Robbery

It started in the city of Seribella, a quiet, serene town where the gang was visiting. It all started on some food shortage…

"Uh oh," Clemont muttered, checking his bag.

Everyone turned to him.

"What's wrong, Clemont?" Ash asked his friend.

"Does anyone have any pokemoney? Because I'm low on money! And since I'm low on supplies, I'll need to buy more! If any of you have any money, I'll pay you back later!"

Ash flipped his pockets inside-out, and only a small ball of cotton was produced. Serena's skirt pockets only had perfume bottles.

Bonnie, who clearly had no money, asked in desperation, "This won't take long, will it?"

Clemont smiled and said, "Only a few minutes."

The moment they looked at the bank's line, Clemont's eyes went whiter than milk and steam poured out of Bonnie's ears… literally.

The line went through the whole room, and even though every single clerk was there today, the line was moving slower than a Slugma.

Clemont tapped a tall lady's shoulder and asked, "Why is the bank so crowded today?"

The lady turned to him and regarded him with heracross-like eyes. She told him in a gravelly voice, "How do you not know? The Immortals are coming here to perform in a few days, and the tickets cost a fortune! That's why so many people are here before the tickets are sold out, see?"

"Oh dear," Clemont grumbled.

Serena wafted away the putrid smoke from Bonnie and said desperately, "It can't get any worse, can it?"

Pikachu heavily disagreed, as due to his mousy nose, the scent was a thousand times as bad as Ash's old socks he never cleaned… and those hadn't been washed in a month PLUS was dropped in a puddle in mud.

He coughed and muttered, "Pika pika…"

Apparently though, Fate had a different idea of 'getting worse.'

Ash temporarily heard a gunshot, and his ears started ringing.

At the entrance were five burly men with their faces covered in black ski masks. A pokeball hung in their gun holsters, one each, and all of them was holding some kind of firearm.

The one clearly in charge based off his attitude, and probably the one sending the warning shot, shouted, "Everyone get down and put your hands over your heads! You will all give us every single pokedollar you have, or you'll live to regret it! And don't bother sending off any alarms, or _else_."

Ash did as he was told, and Pikachu leaped off his shoulder to kind of do so. Everyone kneeled over, looked down, and placed their palms on their heads, while Pikachu simply looked down, squatted, and flattened his ears with his paws.

When one of the robbers, about forty due to the long, greying beard peeking out from his mask, reached Ash, he snarled, "Pay up."

Ash gave no reply.

"PAY UP!"

When Ash still did nothing, he found himself being pulled up from the scruff of his collar.

He started flailing his arms and legs, shouting, "LET ME GO!"

The guy who picked him up kicked Pikachu before the pokemon could do anything and called out, "All of you look at this! I'm about to show you what happens to those who don't apply!"

He grabbed the gun by the barrel and swung the butt across Ash's face, and Ash cried out as blood burst out from his cheek. The pain made him blind for a second, and the world spun and disorientated. He heard his friends cry out only to be silenced by pistol shots.

The guy dropped Ash and kicked him the chest, rolling him over to where he was. He couldn't really see, but he was aware of Pikachu, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie leaning over him.

"Ash, are you alright?" Serena asked worriedly.

"Oh, so the chick wants a go!" the guy who beat Ash laughed. "Well, pretty lady, your prayers are answered."

The _ka-chank_ of a shotgun pump echoed through the silent lobby.

"They are now," the owner whispered.

Clearly a guy about fifteen, the guy wore a black hooded sweatshirt with no design, black pilot goggles, a bandana over his mouth, biker gloves, jean pants, and running shoes. Black messy hair covered part of his goggles, and the only flesh visible on him was pale white. He held two handheld shotguns and one was pointed at the brute's head. Six pokeballs bulged from underneath his jacket on his belt. He stood with his front foot on a skateboard, which was on its back legs.

The other four thugs aimed their pistols at him. They actually looked quite terrified and were hesitant.

"L… listen, man!" one of them shouted. "I… if you even try it, we _will_ burst your head t… to smithereens!"

The guy cocked his head to the side.

Then one of the robbers disappeared in a flash of grey.

"I… if you do that again…"

The guy swiveled his skateboard.

A thug fell on his face with a pulsing, sickening violet wound on his back.

He flipped his other shotgun.

The last thug besides the speaker was grabbed from behind by something… large.

The creature held up the thug high with one claw. It was a Drapion.

Another pokemon picked up the wounded robber. Toxicroak croaked at the guy in charge.

Finally, a bisharp came down, the captured thug unconscious and held like a sleeping bag.

The thug in charge dropped his pistol and put his hands in the air.

The guy nodded and elbowed his own captive in the head. The man crumpled, and the rescuer kicked him over with the others.

"Nicely done, guys," he congratulated. He turned to the clerks and asked, "Well? You gonna sound that alarm?"

As everyone calmed down, the guy came up to Ash, who still lay on the ground.

"You okay?" he asked.

Ash blinked. The guy might as well have been Death as a hero or something.

"Yeah…" he muttered.

"Pika!" Pikachu cried with joy, rubbing his cheek against his trainer's. "Kaaaaaaaa…"

The guy touched Ash's cheek, and was greeted by a wince.

"Well, that may hurt for now," the guy told them. "Give me a second…"

He produced a rather large band-aid and put some ointment on it. He stuck it on Ash's cheek and put his fists on his hips triumphantly.

"There," he said.

The bisharp, drapion, and toxicroak came up to him.

"It done?" he asked.

"Croak," the toxicroak replied.

He patted the toxicroak and drapion on the heads, and gave a hi-five to bisharp.

"Stay sharp," he said to Ash, pointing to bisharp's arm blades. He laughed and put the three in their pokeballs, got on his skateboard, and rolled off.

Sometime later, on their way to the Pokemart, Serena noticed Ash poke at his cheek. Pikachu also noticed that and gave a small shiver.

"What is it?" Serena asked.

Ash turned to Clemont and Bonnie and told them, "Can you two go on without us?"

Clemont noticed the slight fear in Ash's voice and went on, getting the gist. Bonnie wiggled her eyebrows at Serena before going with her brother.

"Okay, you must swear you will never tell this to anyone," Ash told Serena.

"I swear," Serena promised.

Ash sighed and explained, "I've never told this to anyone before. So, you remember how I told you that I've traveled through Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, in Unova, something happened…"

Ash fell silent, and Serena asked, "Is it… personal?"

"Yeah. Could you follow me for a second?"

Ash went to a shady tree, and sat down under it. He looked at the ground, his hat covering his face. Pikachu scampered onto the tree, not anxious to hear whatever this was. Serena sat next to him, wanting to help in any way she could.

"Okay, so here's what…" he said. "So, me and my friends, Cilan and Iris, and Pikachu, obviously, and just having a picnic somewhere. And we let Pikachu and Iris's pokemon, Axew, go wander off, and they come back with this evil axew. And… it could… talk."

"So?" Serena stopped herself there. "Sorry, that came out kind of harshly. I mean, Team Rocket's Meowth can talk."

"But this one… he had some kind of jagged scar over his eye, and he had fangs… not normal. Even less normal, a bunch of floating, messed up white hands followed him…"

Ash shuddered.

"But thing is, he brought up Lavender Tower from Kanto all the way to Unova and…"

Several teardrops fell from his face.

"I-I'm sorry, Serena. I can't do this!"

He tried to run off, and Serena shouted, "Wait!"

As she caught his arm, black electricity flowed from Ash to her.

And she fell.

She awoke, and saw blackness.

Serena could see herself, but everything was just pitch black.

" _ **That's you…"**_

Serena spun her head around, looking for where the dark voice came from.

She brought out braxien's pokeball, and threw it.

All that came out was braxien's disembodied head on her stick.

Serena screamed and ran.

The landscape started taking shape: a circular platform made of white stone high in the air.

No, on top of a tower that reached the sky.

" _ **Do you see him?"**_

Serena tried to find the source of the voice, but it echoed everywhere.

" _ **LOOK FOR HIM."**_

Serena looked around on the tower roof, and saw someone… familiar.

Ash Ketchum before she had seen him in Kalos. In his different outfit, he looked slightly shorter.

However, what mattered was that he was bruised and battered.

Pikachu tried to stand up. He was right in front of Ash and was clearly in the middle of a battle.

Ash was fighting…

" _Oh my Arceus,"_ Serena thought.

A white corpse with rotten flesh and thin skin. Its eyes were sunken but pure red.

Behind it…

" _ **You see me?"**_

An axew, hands behind its back grinning so evilly for a small creature it was filthy. Like Ash said, it had razor-sharp teeth and a very jagged scar over its right eye like a sword cut.

What Ash hadn't mentioned, however, was the purple-black fire surrounding it and the maniacal look in its eyes that was blinding.

Serena was truly terrified now. This thing was haunting her from Ash's memories…

"W… what are you?!" she cried.

She felt something behind her. She turned.

She saw it.

The fraxure stared at her with the same smile and eyes. Its scar was the same and the sharp teeth had no difference.

"My name…" he laughed, "is _**TERRIFANG**_."

He raised a hand to her face, and black light transferred from his hand to her brain.

Impossibly dark thoughts filled Serena's vision, and she started screaming, crying, and hugging herself. She fell to her knees, not stopping with her horrible sobs of terror.

"I am _**FEAR**_."

Serena saw her body breaking over rocks.

"I am _**PAIN**_."

Clemont was surrounded by ghosts, and his glasses glowed purple.

"I am _**MISERY**_."

Dozens of messed up white hands tore Bonnie limb-by-limb.

"I am _**REVENGE!**_ "

Terrifang himself slowly twisted Ash's body around, which started to contort and disorientate until it slowly shredded. Serena could hear his horrible screams as bad as her own as the process continued.


	2. Waking Up

Chapter 2: Waking Up

Serena opened her eyes, and found it was night.

The moon, in a crescent shape, hovered and was visible from her window. The only other lights visible were ones from lampposts, as it was probably shortly past midnight.

She was on a hospital bed, that was for sure. Her readings were normal and even, so perhaps she was just fine.

Then she noticed the clipboard at the side of her bed.

She picked it up and looked for a light. Her eyes spotted a small lamp, and she pulled the chain to bring out blinding light.

Serena blinked as her eyes adjusted. Then she read the clipboard's notes.

 _12:30-Patient is sweating without reason. No heart problems or hot temperatures._

 _1:00-Patient is screaming and tears are coming out of her eyes. Seems to be living a terrible dream._

 _2:00-Patient has stopped screaming, but is writing a message. Message is under clipboard._

Serena, upon reading this, noticed a piece of paper where she had picked up the clipboard. She held it and read the scratchy, large writing.

 _ **I AM COMING FOR YOU ASH KETCHUM**_

Terrifang's scarred eye flashed across Serena's vision. It disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

It was only then she heard the grumbling.

With his head on the foot of the bed, Ash meebly stirred and opened his eyes slowly.

"Serena?" he asked.

Serena smiled nervously and said, "Hi… Ash."

She noticed that Pikachu wasn't around there. He was probably sleeping with everyone else.

"You saw him, didn't you?" Ash asked.

"Erm, yeah. I saw you fighting…"

"Buried Alive. An old corpse of the other strongest trainer alive."

"What?"

"Terrifang said something once… that I would be the greatest trainer of all time, but he would stop me…"

That was Ash's dream, but he didn't seem too happy about it.

He smiled weakly and patted her knee.

"You should get more rest."

Serena tried to argue, but she was already slipping off.

She wish she hadn't.

 _He twirled his SMGs and studied the two, plus the Pokémon._

 _His detection could allow him to see them from this darkness, the sky blacker than Death itself._

 _That is, according to the phrase…_

 _The two held hands while walking to no destination in mind. They just roamed freely._

 _The Pokémon stood on the boy's shoulder, electricity crackling on its cheeks. It wasn't in its pokeball like any other pokemon, but just stood there like an easy target._

 _He stuck all of his things in the case and adjusted his tie. He slipped through the alleyways and acted like he was normal._

 _He pretended to check his watch, although he knew the time: nine o' clock._

 _His eyes flicked forward to see them every now and then, but he still 'checked' his watch._

 _Then he pretended to trip on a crack in the sidewalk and fell down. His glasses cracked and his suitcase went off in some direction._

 _The two immediately noticed and came up to him._

" _Hey, mister, you alright?" the boy asked._

" _I'll go get the suitcase!" the girl informed him and dashed off._

 _He slowly got up and replied, "I'm good, I'm good…"_

 _The Pokémon came up to him and patted his knee softly, murmuring its name._

 _The girl came back with his suitcase and asked, "Ash, does he seem fine to you?"_

 _Ash nodded and told her, "Seems perfectly fine. Except for the glasses…"_

" _Oh, I'm good," he said. "I'm just nearsighted, thankfully."_

" _Hey, what's your name?"_

" _My name is Issac. Nice to meet you…"_

" _My name is Ash, and that guy there is my buddy Pikachu."_

Serena woke up again.

This felt like… she was human, but not. Her vision was normal but stronger. She felt like her muscles had bulged.

Plus, she had seen… herself.

She was holding hands with Ash, which should have been a good thing. But it was like with Ash telling her that Terrifang told her he was to be the best Trainer.

 _Not_ a good sign.

Ash was gone, but this time it was Bonnie who was watching her.

Bonnie, upon noticing Serena's awakening, immediately having her giant smile and shouted, "Big brother! Serena's awake!"

"Awesome!" Clemont shouted from the other side of the door. "I'll go tell Ash!"

His footsteps became quieter, and Bonnie asked Serena, "So, I guess we're staying here a bit longer because of your… problem, so guess what Clemont got us?"

"I don't know," Serena told her, curious.

"Front row seats for that 'Immortals' concert!"

"Awesome!" Serena thought back for a second, then frowned. "How'd you get front row seats?"

Conveniently, Nurse Joy came in and told her, "You can go, but if anything strange happens, come on back!"

Bonnie led Serena, all dressed to impress (Ash), to a clearing, where Ash, Pikachu, and Clemont were watching someone do… something.

The guy was about fifteen, with pale skin, and almost square violet eyes. He wore a black hooded sweatshirt, black jean pants, and black sneakers that looked worn. There were a few bulges underneath his sweatshirt: six pokeballs and two other objects. Two lumps stuck out underneath his hood.

Clemont was first to notice them.

"Oh, hey Serena!" he called. "Feeling better?"

Ash turned to see her, and his smile grew.

"Serena! Glad you could join us!" he greeted. "This is our new friend here…"

"Lloyd," the guy told her in a surprisingly child-like voice. He strummed the electric guitar he was holding and did a solo.

Serena cocked her head to the side. She saw something familiar about him…

Six pokeballs… two somethings poking out of his sweatshirt, like a cane… two lumps under his hood…

"You're that guy that saved us from the bank, right?" she asked.

Lloyd laughed and said, "Ding ding ding ding!"

He did another solo.

"I'm many things," he explained. "A hero, a sculptor, a marksman, a skateboardist, and an electric guitar player. I felt bad for your spiky-haired friend here, so I gave you guys some tickets I bought for the Immortals. They're good."

"You're one of them, are you?"

All of the color from Lloyd, clothing included, drained out, making him pure white.

"Uh, yeah."

Ash clapped quietly, and Serena started blushing.

Lloyd fixed a look, and asked, "Can I talk to you for a bit? Privately?"

Ash stopped clapping, and his expression became hard to read. Serena could tell it wasn't a good emotion.

"Erm, sure…" she replied.

Lloyd make a shoo-ing motion, and her friends left.


	3. Never Hesitate

**I'm surprised I haven't gotten any hate mail for making an Amourshipping story yet…**

 **Happy: Aye, sir!**

 **Me: No, seriously. I'm kinda terrified I'm going to get bombarded with hate. Hm. Oh well.**

Chapter 3: Never Hesitate

Lloyd strummed a sad note, and Serena put her hands on her hips.

"Are you going to talk to me, or…"

"Never hesitate," Lloyd said simply.

"'Never hesitate…?'"

"A long time ago, I was in love with this one girl. I knew the feeling was mutual, but we both had no idea about that.

So I waited for a long time for something to happen, where I could tell her my feelings, but by the time I found the perfect time… she moved."

He looked at her in the eye.

"You get the point?"

Serena put a hand over her mouth. What Lloyd was implying… if she waited too long…

Ash would already be off to Kanto.

Meanwhile, Ash was holding a hand to his forehead. Nothing strange about this, except…

"Ash?" Clemont questioned. "Why is there a purple flame… coming out of your ear?"

Sure enough, there was a small purple flame sprouting from his ear, but Ash couldn't hear it.

" _ **ALMOST… FREE!"**_

Something else came out.

The shadow of a fraxure.

" _ **I'M BACK AND I'M BAD!"**_

As soon as Terrifang came out all of the way, he disappeared.

Clemont, after recovering, found that Ash was pale and had glassy eyes.

 _Issac looked at them like they were a mouse running in a hamster wheel. It looked like he was saying,_ What an interesting specimen.

 _He eventually walked off, and Ash was left with the darkness._

 _He spent… was it days? Weeks? The only interaction he got was the few bits of food he got._

 _Ash could hear Serena, however far away she was. She would call out sometimes, then get silenced with a loud_ crack _._

 _He tried to keep himself calm, but sometimes he would fly into a fit of rage, shouting angrily and pounding on the walls until his hands bled._

 _Insanity. It came that easily._

 _It was all of Terrifang's fault. He had caused all of this madness._

 _Ash looked up into the heavens, and he screamed, "TERRIFANG!"_

…

 _Darkrai lobbed shadow balls at the sylveon, who dodged it swiftly._

" _None of you accepted me!" the sylveon shouted. "I could talk. I should have been congratulated for that. I'm differently colored. I should have been admired for that. But no, I just want to simply be another pokemon in these gardens, but instead, you_ _ **LEAVE ME FOR DEAD**_ _."_

Ash's vision cleared, and found that he was on a hospital bed.

"Terrifang is really giving me and Serena no mercy…" he muttered.

Speaking of Serena…

She was standing right in front of him, a comforting smile on her face that gave Ash the jitters.

She opened her mouth to speak, until a black blade sliced through her torso.

Ash cried out, and Serena dropped.

Terrifang, as a fraxure, walked towards him.

"Welcome back, Ash Ketchum…" he whispered. "The nightmares continue _now_."

Ash's vision flickered, and he was back where he started, but this time, Serena was talking freely.

"…and I don't think Terrifang is going to leave us alone," she finished with whatever she was saying.

Ash blinked. Serena's eyebrows scrunched.

"Were you listening?" she asked him.

Ash went slightly crosseyed. He muttered, "Don't wanna talk about it."

Serena looked slightly hurt by this and she exited the room.

Ash sighed and looked at the ceiling.

So, first Serena, and now him. If Terrifang was going for a horizon of victims, who could be next? Pikachu? Clemont? Bonnie? His mom?

Ash sighed. Things would _surely_ go bad, if it was Terrifang. He nearly…

Ash tried to not think about it, but too late…

 _Terrifang made a black blade out of nowhere, and he put the tip of it on Ash's neck._

" _If there is one thing you cannot defeat," he snarled, "it is DEATH."_

 _He prepared to shove the blade into Ash's throat…_

 _Then instead he raised a paw, and Ash felt each of his inner organs get twisted, punctured…_

The pain felt real…

 _No one could help him… Mark was fighting the rest of the White Hands… Iris and Cilan were missing…_

He was reliving it…

 _No one would find him ever again…_

"No…"

 _He would be Terrifang's playtoy…_

"NO!"

"Ash, calm down!"

He opened his eyes, and no one was there.


	4. Team Rocket or Not

**Uh, hey guys. We're on this story's second half. I think. Uh, Happy? Can you do the math?**

 **Happy: Nay, sir!**

 **Me: Alpha?**

 **Alpha: SHUTTING DOWN**

 **Me: Donny?**

 **Donny: (asleep)**

 **Me: Anyone?**

 **Everyone: (asleep besides Happy, who refuses)**

 **Me: Uh… Okay then… (leaves)**

 **(comes back)**

 **Me: Serena, are we halfway through or not?**

 **Serena: No.**

 **Me: Okay. BTW guys, I'm planning a possible crossover between Pokemon XY and Killing Spree, this stickman animation on Stickpage. Meh.**

Chapter 4: Team Rocket… or Not

The moment Ash walked out of the Pokemon Center, he was greeted by loud, jeering voices.

A white and blue SUV passed him, and it parked itself near the entrance. It was followed by another truck, which had all sorts of equipment strapped on to it.

Four guys got out of the SUV, giving each other high fives, fist bumps, and chest bumps.

Two others crawled out of the truck, looking dazed and tired.

Quickly, everyone inside the Pokemon Center came out, cameras blazing. All seven started posing, even the two dazed ones.

Serena, Clemont, Bonnie and Pikachu trotted outside, noticing the commotion. Pikachu took his usual spot on Ash's shoulder and snickered.

Bonnie's eyes sparkled as soon as she saw the seven. She shouted, "The Immortals!"

Apparently her voice carried (which it always did), because the guy who was obviously, due to him being in front, the one in charge took one look at her, and he grinned. He saw the other three with her and apparently whistled.

He was about fifteen, with a slender body despite the hard muscle obviously growing. He owned orange hair, red eyes, and light skin. He casually wore an orange t-shirt, a leather jacket, pants, hiking boots, and, for some reason, a SWAT helmet, visor up. On the top of it was the design of a haxorus, face forward.

He put a hand up, and the crowd got respectfully quiet. He came up to the gang and considered them.

"So, you're the ones Lloyd keeps talking about…" he said praisefully. "Big brother knows best."

"Yes I do," Lloyd admitted, walking up to the group.

One of them slapped him on the back and asked, "'sup, little bro?"

Lloyd laughed and shrugged him off.

That one was about the oldest, like eighteen. He was taller than the Brock Ash remembered, with slender features and a skinny build. He was pale white with black hair and violet eyes. He simply wore a white t-shirt that looked a bit small and pants that barely reached his feet. He was simply barefooted, and the pokeballs on his belt were more visible than a hairy man's mustache.

One dude, with black knight plate armor and helmet and a red dragon insigna, one of the guys in the truck, told them: "Well, let's let everyone out!"

All four of them threw six pokeballs each in the air, and a large group of pokemon came out.

One guy, blonde and red eyed with a red biker jacket, went off with a magmortar, flareon, infernape, typhlosion, simesear, and a charizard. Another, red hair, diagonal scar over his right eye and a blue long sleeve shirt, shouted in excitement followed by a magneton, klingklang, aggron, a metang (good thing, as a metagross would smash everything), scizor, and a beedrill.

The other dude in the truck, covered completely by a hooded blue cloak, brought out a walrein, gallade, rhyperior, salamence, gigalith, and a scolipede. He asked his knightly friend, "You wanna set the equipment up right now, or later?"

The knight's own team, a kabutops, chandelure, aggron, areodactyl, bastiodon, and hydregion, followed him as he left saying, "We have two days. Give it some time."

Lloyd and his apparently two brothers went off in their own direction, chatting about something.

Serena watched them go off while asking, "Hey, Ash, what do you feel like doing?"

She looked to see Ash, who was already gone.

Ash had followed the knight guy, who was currently fighting another trainer and his electivire. His hyderegion kept dodging each of the electivire's attacks, and casually danced around it.

The knight simply flicked his wrist, and hydregion shot out a large beam of energy from all three mouths.

When the light turned down a bit, the electivire was on the ground, knocked out.

"And Shadow wins!" a guy working as the announcer called.

The small crowd cheered, and the knight, Shadow, patted his opponent on the shoulder. Then he went to his hydregion and fed it some fruit.

"So, who's next?" he called to the crowd.

Before anyone could say anything, Ash shouted from the back of the crowd, "I'll go!"

The fans parted for Ash to approach the flat ground. Shadow and his hydregion looked at each other.

"Saved the world from Mewtwo?" Shadow asked.

"Yep," Ash replied.

"Hy hy gion?" Shadow's hydregion asked Pikachu.

"Pika pika."

Shadow and his hydregion exchanged a look.

"Cool with me," the knight told him. "But I'm warning you… Hades is _the_ most powerful pokemon I have."

"The stronger the better!" Ash retorted.

Shadow chuckled.

"Let's get this fight started!" the announcer shouted.

For some strange reason, Shadow started beatboxing in a casual beat. In response, Hades did some kind of free style dance.

Ash, confused, simply told Pikachu, "Use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu's body crackled with electricity, and a large lightning bolt shot at Hades.

Hades, going to Shadow's beat, swiftly danced to the side. The thunderbolt missed him by meters.

Shadow's beat changed to something faster, and Hades's mouths started glowing with blue light **(I don't remember what the Draco Meteor animation was like in the show)**.

Multiple meteors of dragon power grew from Hades's mouths, and Pikachu stepped back nervously.

Then Hades closed all of his mouths.

And swallowed.

Immediately, Hades's fangs grew sharper and longer. Each of them glowed with blue energy. In addition, his scales on his back flipped up, also glowing with blue energy.

Shadow made a beatbox like the finish of a song, and Hades nodded. His fangs grew even longer, the length of Ash's arms at this point. The color became black, and all three heads were armed (mouthed?) and dangerous.

Hades charged faster than Ash could yell, "Dodge it!"

In a bright flash of blue and black, all of Hades's mouths gripped Pikachu.

Ash called out, "Pikachu!"

The light faded, and Hades dropped something out of its main mouth.

Knocked-out Pikachu.

The whole crowd gasped, hoping that the electric mouse wasn't dangerously hurt.

Shadow, who stopped beatboxing, congratulated, "Hades, you're getting more delicate by the minute!"

Ash, who had run over to Pikachu, saw what he meant: There was hardly a scratch on Pikachu for some reason.

Shadow patted Hades on the head and then knelt next to Pikachu. Ash gave him a sideways look.

"You won't have to take him to the Pokemon Center for this one," Shadow laughed. He produced a yellowish crystal out of… somewhere.

Shadow flipped it over to his other hand and placed it on Pikachu's chest. It glowed and dissolved into little lights that went into Pikachu's body. He glowed with the light, and Pikachu's eyes flickered.

"Pika?" he grumbled. He saw Ash and cried with joy, "Pika!"

"Hey, buddy," Ash said, almost speechless.

Shadow's eyes apparently crossed the crowd, as his head was turning around. They apparently fixed on one point, and Ash saw what he was looking at.

Serena.

"I love a good shipping," Shadow chuckled. He stood up and asked, "Who's next?"

"We are!" three familiar voices shouted.

Robotic hands shot out and grabbed both Pikachu and Hades at once. They went back to a giant mech, which cackled evilly.

The hulking thing was about the size of a golurk, and was completely colored black. It was blocky, with black cubical arms, legs, shoulders, torso, and head. Pipes attached on different parts of its body, and four on its shoulder blew out steam. On its stomach was a giant red R, and its face had something like a panel of glass.

It was impossible to see who it was, but it was obvious who did this.

"Team Rocket!" Ash shouted angrily.

All three laughed in recognition. The sounds of gears whirring screamed over all of the panic as a hatch on the head opened and Team Rocket came out.

"Prepare for trouble, you overpowered brat!" Jessie called down.

"And make it double, as we are better than that!" James added.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"It's Jessie!"

"And James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

Meowth jumped in front of the two and shouted, "Meowth, that's right!"

Wobbufett popped out behind all three and added, "Wobbufett!"

Shadow chuckled easily and asked, "Who the heck are you?"

Jessie, clearly ticked off, replied, "We are Team Rocket, you nipwit!"

"And we have come to take Pikachu… and took your hydregion for dessert!" James continued.

Meowth laughed and told them, "We have out done ourselves, because this time we are prepared for any kind of attack! The Capture 'n' Transport will capture any target, so we don't only catch Pikachu: we also catch any other powerful Pokebum!"

" _ **Oh, really?"**_

As if the giant wasn't terrifying alone, the dark, deep, echoing voice fixed that.

Serena, who was clearly terrified out of her wits, ran up to Ash and gripped his right arm. Ash glared in all directions, looking for where the voice was coming from.

Meowth looked pretty scared too as he called out, "Uh… y-yeah it does! I-it's foolproof! Immune to all pokemon attacks!"

" _ **All of them?"**_

"Yes!"

Jessie, who was less concerned about the terrifying voice, questioned Meowth, "What are you saying? It sounds like we're just giving it away! There's no way we're just going to give it up!"

In response, the platform they stood on rocketed up, and Team Rocket faceplanted on the ground a few yards away from everyone.

"He gave us the boot!" Meowth pointed out.

"Let's scoot!" James suggested. After a brief silence, he added, "As far away as possible."

The four got on their butts and scooted off.

The Capture 'n' Transport crackled with energy, and static filled the air. It slouched and dropped both Pikachu and Hades.

Shadow hugged his pokemon and shouted to the crowd, "Get out of here!"

They all ran off.

Shadow looked at Ash and Serena and asked, "What are you doing?!"

"This thing's been haunting my mind," Ash growled. "I would like to show him the feeling is mutual."

Shadow looked confused, then the mech's glass panel became black.

Then it created 8-bit glaring eyes and a jagged scar over its right eye.

Terrifang stretched his arms and legs. He cracked the joints in the mech's neck and looked over at his three victims.

" **THE FEELING IS MUTUAL?"** 8-bit rendition of Terrifang's voice asked. **"WELL, I'D LIKE TO SHOW YOU HOW I REACT TO THAT."**


	5. Terribot Personal

' **ello**

 **nwo1fan: What the (fart) just happened**

 **Well, it goes like this… wait. I'll let Prof. Happy do it.**

 **Professor Happy: Students, today we will focus on 'Terrifang's Playthings.' Terrifang often has a high hate for all humans and friendly pokemon or whatever. But there are some he hates so much he wants to kill himself (not really). They're usually the ones who are so powerful or will be the few strongest pokemon or humans. So he likes to punish them and torture them for a very long time. They are called his playthings. No one really knows that if you survive a Terrifang onslaught, you will never forget him, even after you die. That is, unless he dies (wiggles eyebrows). But Ash, who did, felt he had to share it with someone, and he did… the hard way. Terrifang is always whispering in your mind, creating self-doubt… misery… hate… need for revenge. Because… I think my buddy Shadow will leave that for later. Anyway, due to this, Serena had been able to see that Terrifang would be coming back and Terrifang was able to show her what happened. Now, if Ash didn't want to tell Serena, she wouldn't have fallen/be knocked out cold/need to go to the hospital (Pokemon Center, whatever)/have spasms/act like a wimp/weirdo. She wouldn't have entered the Nightscape, as Terrifang likes to call it. Instead, Ash probably would have run off, hidden from everyone for some hours, come on back, Amourshipping would have happened (Shadow, why did you have to make Ash want to tell someone?!), and Ash would have fallen asleep, and he would go to the Nightscape himself. But, no. Lesson finished!**

 **Me: Wow man. THAT was a long lecture**

Chapter 5: Terribot Personal

Terrifang, or Terribot as of now, launched out one of his robotic arms and grabbed Ash like Team Rocket would with Pikachu.

"Let me go!" Ash shouted.

Terribot laughed and gave no reply. He started to walk off casually.

Shadow roared and yelled, "Hades, use Hyper Beam, NOW!"

Hades charged up the beam of great light.

Serena grabbed Shadow's shoulder and told him, "DON'T! You might hit Ash!"

Hades stopped, and Shadow snarled.

Ash reached his belt and threw out all of his four pokeballs.

Fletchinder, Frogadier, Hawlucha, and Goodra came out in flashes of light, and all of them looked immediately alarmed by the situation.

Ash grunted by the pressure Terribot was using and told them, "All of you, stay back!"

The pokemon all looked at each other. They all turned to Pikachu, who was catching up.

Meanwhile, Shadow was dialing a phone number as this all happened. When the person picked up, Serena listened intently.

"Yeah?" the voice of the Immortals leader asked from the other end.

"Slenderdragon?" Shadow asked. "We have a problem. You see, we have some kidnapped kid or something. I have his… uh…" He covered the phone and asked Serena, "What would you call him?"

Serena sputtered, "Cru… no… uh… best friend! Yeah, best friend!"

Shadow considered her obviously lying face, but shrugged and said to Slenderdragon, "His best friend, apparently. So then, what about the others?"

Slenderdragon probably shrugged by the sound of scuffling, and he replied, "Well, Lloyd and Drag are both ready to go on. I don't think Drap will be good for some search, but it works. The other two, the blondies, are with Daniel. I'm sure they're fine. They'll be coming soon. Inferno's already gone to get Tal. 'k?"

"Got it. I'll follow him."

"Okay. Tell us when you're there."

Shadow hung up and asked Serena, "I guess that thing got away with your 'best friend'? His pokemon are still here?"

Serena nodded solemnly.

"Well, in that case, it's time to call the calvary… or the Militia!"

He threw a pokeball in the air, and his aerodactyl came out. He returned Hades with another one.

He got on Militia's back and shouted at Ash's pokemon, "Follow me!"

Militia flew up, and Shadow called down to Serena, "You coming along?"

Meanwhile, Terribot used its Team Rocket laser technology to 'tie' up Ash to a boulder in a forest clearing and sat down.

Ash glared at him and asked, "You're really back, huh?"

Terribot laughed and replied, **"YES I AM. I FEEL LIKE… CATCHING UP BEFORE I DESTROY YOU."**

"Catch up with what?"

" **YOUR LIFE. YOU SEEM INTERESTED IN THAT GIRL."**

"Why does that matter?"

" **WHY DOES ANYTHING MATTER?"**

"Point is, you're not getting anything out of me."

" **I WOULDN'T BE SO SURE. REMEMBER WHAT I CAN DO. YOU MIGHT AS WELL SAY IT FROM YOUR LIPS."**

Ash fell silent. Then he asked, "So?"

" **HOW DO YOU FEEL? US POKEMON ARE ALWAYS CURIOUS ON HOW PEOPLE FEEL. JUST LIKE HOW YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW WE FEEL."**

"The same as you would feel about your best friend. Okay?"

Ash was lying, and it was obvious Terribot knew that by the way the pixelated version of his eyes narrowed.

To be honest, Ash felt that way… at first. Then as they adventured… his feelings grew stronger.

" **WHY DON'T I QUITE BELIEVE THAT? I KNOW YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT HOW STRONGLY YOU THINK ABOUT HER. I MEAN, SERIOUSLY. YOU'RE SO DENSE. I HAVE TO TELL MY WHITE HANDS, 'HEY, IDIOTS, THIS GUY** _ **REALLY**_ **DOES HAVE FEELINGS FOR SOMEONE!"**

"You're mocking me, aren't you?"

" **OH, NO NO NO NO, ASH, LOOK! SERENA!"**

"WHERE?!"

Terribot fell over, laughing.

His laughter was interrupted by the sound of a sword unsheathing.

Terribot turned around and snarled at someone. Ash couldn't see who it was, due to Terribot's immense bulk hiding who it was.

" **YOU!"**

"You know it!" a male, teen-like voice replied. "Terrifang, I am back!"

" **I DON'T THINK YOU'RE FULLY AWARE THAT THIS MACHINE IS IMMUNE TO ALL POKEMON ATTACKS."**

"I don't think you're fully aware I don't use my attacks."

Terribot flinched, and Ash could see who it was for a split second.

A fraxure. A different one.

What was most noticeable, however, was the purple, glowing diagonal scar over his left eye.

That very second, Lloyd appeared riding on his drapion. He leaped off and brought out one of his shotguns.

Ash panicked for a second, as the source of the laser power was over his chest, but Lloyd hit it with the shotgun's butt and the power switched off.

"Let's go!" Lloyd shouted, and Ash obliged.

They got on the drapion and left.

The other fraxure's voice echoed through the forest and came around its trees.

"Run, Ash!" he shouted. "Run!"

He had the same voice Ash heard in his hospital room.


	6. Chat with a Pokemon

Chapter 6: Chat with a Pokemon

It had been two days, and everything seemed like it would be normal again.

It would never be normal again.

That's what Ash had told himself when he met Terrifang for the first time.

 _Terrifang stared at the giant drill that pierced his heart. He merely ripped it out, causing a wave of his dark violet blood to spill._

 _Then he froze like a stone statue, and cracks formed along his body like a mosaic. He didn't have any words._

 _Then the glass pieces fell off, one by one. Terrifang's power started failing._

 _That meant the Lavender Tower copy was going to fall._

 _Ash quickly grabbed Pikachu and shouted at Mark, "This place is going to fall!"_

 _Mark blinked, then nodded. He patted rhyperior and shouted, "Let's go!"_

…

 _As Ash was on the plane to Kalos, he remembered what had happened._

 _The darkness. The gore. The death._

 _Life seemed like it would be normal again._

 _It would never be normal again._

 _The best he could do for now was to ignore it…_ until it all ended.

After he and Lloyd escaped Terribot, he was greeted by his Pokemon, the Immortals, Clemont and Bonnie, and Serena. They were all freaking out in relief, and Ash had gotten such a hug from the scarred guy he felt like his ribs would break.

The Immortals and the police searched the area, and there was no sign of Terribot or the other fraxure. Ash had made a silent agreement with Lloyd that they would keep the fraxure a secret, as something else was strange with it. They had said that Ash managed to free himself and Lloyd had come across him, distract Terribot, and they ran off. Also that Terribot was bad at getting up.

Only Slenderdragon didn't look very convinced by this. If he was, he didn't tell.

Now Ash sat on his bed in the Pokemon Center, alone except for Pikachu.

"Pika, pika?" the electric mouse asked, confused by Ash's uncommon sorrow.

Ash sighed and told him, "You already know, you know that."

Pikachu nodded in understanding.

"Terrifang didn't torture me immediately. He asked me… about Serena. He wanted to 'catch up,' from what he called it.

Why would he ask me something like that, Pikachu? Why?"

Ash buried his face in his hands in confusion, and his eyes fell on something near Clemont's bed.

A helmet with a tube connecting to a speaker.

Ash knew what that thing was.

He dragged it over to his bed and placed the helmet on Pikachu's head. He didn't know how to build machines or such, but he knew how to turn on a machine: flick the switch.

"Okay, buddy," Ash said, "it's on. Tell me what you think."

Pikachu said something, but it was inaudible from the sound coming from the speaker. Ash turned it down as Pikachu 'spoke.'

"PERHAPS TERRIFANG IS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON," Pikachu replied. "MAYBE… UH… HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT LOVE IS. PERHAPS HE'S… JEALOUS."

"Why would he be?"

"YOU'RE ASKING THE WRONG PIKACHU, BRUH."

Ash took everything he had to not scream in joy. Clemont's machine actually worked. He made a mental note to pull the inventor aside and thank him.

"How do pokemon love?"

"WELL, ASH, IT'S KIND OF THE SAME. REMEMBER ME AND BUNEARY? I FELT THE SAME AS YOU PROBABLY DO NOW. SO, IS THERE ANY OTHER EASY QUESTIONS I CAN ANSWER? BECAUSE I'M WAITING FOR THIS THING TO EXPLODE."

"Well, you know how it's easier not to hold in a secret, like it feels like dropping a boulder off your shoulder?"

"YES."

"Mind if I share a little secret?"

"NOT AT ALL."

Ash took a deep breath. He was ready to speak it all to his best friend. Something that he never had told anyone…

"Okaysoeversincewe'vebeenadventuringwithSerenaI'vebeenfeelingkindoffunnylikemyfaceisonfireorIfeelkindofjitterywellI'veneverfeltthiswaywithMistyMayDawnorIrisbecausethere'ssomethingdifferentabouthertomebecauseshe'smuchcuternicerandITHINKIHAVEACRUSHONHER!"

 **(AN: My fingers are sweating from having to get rid of the spaces that I unintentionally put up)**

Ash inhaled a large amount of breath before looking at Pikachu's face.

It was a large, evil, crud eating smile. Not Terrifang evil but mischievous evil, like Mirror Ash's Pikachu.

"OH OH OH OH!" Pikachu laughed. "WAIT TILL EVERYONE HEARS THIS!"

He turned up the speaker's volume to a deafening volume, and he started shouting, "HEY, I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME EVERYONE! IT'S PIKACHU, USING CLEMONT'S TRANSLATION THINGY! ASH…"

Ash, for once, was happy that Clemont's machine blew up.

Pikachu appeared from the cloud of smoke with a disappointed look on his face... and a lovely shade of black on his fur.

"That's a nice new color you have there, buddy," Ash laughed. "And yes, I forgive you."

"Pika pika," Pikachu sighed in relief.

For better or worse for Ash, Serena had been listening to the whole thing right outside the door…

 **Guh. Decided to do an Amourshipping chapta.**

 **So, that last part was in tribute to 123pearlshipping's fic Amourshipping: One Day Off (I do terrible tributes). If you somehow hadn't seen it, read it. NOW. Or else Terrifang will haunt your dreams.**

 **So, let's discuss something: the sequel. First order of business: dramatic quotes from it.**

 **Black Sylveon: ACCEPT ME!**

 **Issac: Fourth Legion, ATTACK!**

 **Darkrai: How is this… possible?**

 **Jake: You gave me this scar. I gave you that scar. Let's see if we can finish this fight.**

 **Serena: I KNEW HIM LONG BEFORE YOU DID, MISS PRETTY FACE! I HAD KNOWN HIM IN CHILDHOOD, AND NOW THAT WE'RE ACTUALLY DATING, YOU ARE ACTUALLY TRYING TO TAKE HIM FROM MEEEE!**

 **0_0**

 **That last part… was intense. Hm, who's 'Miss Pretty Face,' I wonder…?**

 **And Jake? Black Sylveon? Issac? Oh my oh dear. The chaos that will happen.**

 **Second order of business: What will the title be? Like, I'm having a hard time picking between three different possible titles:**

 **Return: The One Who Arceus Feared**

 **Return: Destroyer of the Great**

 **Return: Save a Friend and Destroy the World**

 **Final order of business: Last Chapter Fun**

 **So, in the last chapter the whole 'Ash, look, Serena!' 'Where?' thing made a big impression. Thanks guys, I don't get much credit from my humor unless it's time for me to be a spaz. Then again, I took that joke from Toy Story :3**

 **Well, it's almost time for the final chapta.**


	7. A Song for Serena

Chapter 7: A Song for Serena

The stage was set up in the town center, and it faced an army of plush chairs ready to be used. The equipment was placed symmetrically on the stage, along with a variety of instruments: an electric guitar and bass on two sides, a keytar somewhere in the middle, a drum set placed behind it, and in the back was a machine that could do dubstep or sound effects… or blow up.

Sure enough, as Lloyd promised, the gang's seats were up front to the stage; a few meters away from the stage itself.

Funny thing, too; Ash and Serena's tickets had them sit next to each other.

Serena knew this was her perfect chance to make an impression on him; maybe tell him her feelings or something.

Pikachu had stuffed a thin layer of cotton in his ears so he could hear the music but not become deaf by the loud music. Dedenne did the same, sitting in his pouch but with a bit more cotton in his ears.

Serena peeked over at Ash, trying not to be suspicious. His hand was on his armrest, just right next to her. Maybe… she could 'accidentally' hold his hand, perhaps? _Then_ break it to him after the awkward air cleared up? No… WAY too cliché…

She sighed. No plans to how to break it to Ash… she'll just have to break it to him on some other perfect moment…

"… _by the time I found the perfect time… she moved."_ Lloyd had said.

She had to find something.

Quick.

The Immortals got on the stage, and everyone started cheering.

Slenderdragon took one of the mics as lead singer, along with the cloak guy, Lunar, the backup singer. Lloyd obviously took the electric guitar and the fire-type user, Inferno, used the bass. The guy that Clemont and Bonnie were hanging out with, Daniel, used the keytar while Shadow the knight got on the drum set. Finally, Drag the tall man went in back for the dubstep and sound effects machine.

Their pokemon were nowhere in sight, but a bit of Hades's wing was visible from behind the stage. Security, perhaps?

As the concert began, Serena's hopes fell. None of the songs were really romantic… some were the exact opposite.

Timeline:

6:15- Mostly stuff on heartbreak

6:30- Songs on insanity. _Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeal_ romantic

7:00- NO ROMANCE SONGS AT ALL?!

Serena slumped over, sighing in sadness instead of standing up and cheering like everyone else. No kidding, she didn't even know if she actually sighed or not.

She looked up, and she saw Lloyd look at her, silently saying, _Is there some way I can help?_

 _Yeah,_ Serena silently spoke back. _Can you do some song for a perfect moment?_

 _I got ya covered._

Slenderdragon waved his arms to the crowd, ready to announce the end, when Lloyd whispered something in his ear. The audience started to mutter assent.

Then Slenderdragon announced, "How about one more song, everyone?"

Everybody started cheering, clapping. The sound was deafening. Serena thought she even heard an MLG airhorn.

"Wait, what? WHAT YA SAY EVERYONE?! WHAT YA WANT?!"

"ONE MORE SONG!"

"I'M SORRY! WHAT?!"

"ONE MORE SONG!"

"WHAAAAT?!"

"Just go on with it, already!" some guy shouted angrily from the back. Everybody laughed.

"Okay then. This last song is called 'Lost in Stereo' by… I think it's All Time Low who made it. Anyway…"

 **(AN: Look it up, already! BTW, I'm not keeping track with the instruments, just the lyrics)**

 _Lunar: Lost in stereo,_

 _Lost in stereo_

 _Slenderdragon: She works for the weekends,_

 _Mix tape of her favorite bands,_

 _Tearin' up the radio,_

 _Lost in the stereo sound_

 _She's trouble with a tank top pretty little time bomb,_

 _Blowin' up,_

 _I'll take you down,_

 _Livin' in the radio,_

 _Lost in the stereo sound_

 _SHE'S DANCIN' ALONE,_

 _I'M READY TO GO, BUT SHE'S SO_

 _Lunar: Lost in stereo,_

 _Lost in stereo_

 _Slenderdragon: SHE'S OUT OF CONTROL,_

 _SO BEAUTIFUL_

 _Lunar: Lost in stereo,_

 _Lost in stereo_

 _Slenderdragon: AND I'VE BEEN,_

 _WAITING,_

 _FOR SO LONG,_

 _SHE'LL NEVER KNOW,_

 _I'M LOSIN' HOPE CAUSE SHE'S SO_

 _Lunar: Lost in stereo,_

 _Lost in stereo_

…

 _Lost in stereo,_

 _Lost in stereo_

 _Slenderdragon: Shake down on a Saturday,_

 _Sit back, gotta catch my breath,_

 _Cause every time I see her I know,_

 _She's gonna take it back somehow_

 _Tattoos and a switchblade attitude,_

 _Snakebite heart with a bubblegum smile,_

 _([this part has been deleted for the more immature people in the audience]) in stereo,_

 _Don't turn the radio down_

As they went through the chorus again, Serena felt this was very familiar.

Then it struck.

Her… and Ash.

He was always 'lost in stereo' with his pokemon battling practice, so he never noticed her. In fact, he loved it so much he practically lusted for it.

He never noticed her.

That's why she couldn't wait for him to make the first move.

The climb of the song had just finished, and the tempo smoothed down a bit. That's when Slenderdragon made his announcement as Lunar kept singing.

"Everyone in the audience, if you have a crush you've never told your feelings to, then don't wait. Go for it," he told them via mic.

That's when Ash and Serena clonked their heads together, giving both a large headache.

Lloyd kept playing his guitar, but a sweatdrop fell from his head.

The chorus played for the last time, and both Ash and Serena stared at each other.

"What happened?" Ash asked her.

"I think we slammed heads," Serena mumbled as she rubbed her forehead.

"Why?"

"…I was trying to kiss you," Serena whimpered like a puppy.

In response, Ash grabbed the back of her head (luckily, not very hard) and pressed his lips against hers.

 **(AN: I'm going to skip the part where the kiss is weird or exciting or whatever, because 1. It makes me feel awkward and 2. I'm bad at these descriptions)**

When Ash pulled back, Serena's mouth gaped open like a fish.

Pikachu smiled smugly to himself; Clemont sighed in relief; Dedenne was still paying attention to the show.

Now, at this point Bonnie would have been screaming congratulations to Serena or something like that and everybody would have stared at her. Instead she was looking into the bushes.

A fraxure, a violet scar over its left eye and a sword sheath over its back, caught her eye.

It considered her. Then it nodded.

It walked off in the other direction, and Bonnie rubbed her eyes.

 **Well… Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay…**


	8. Jake the Fraxure

Chapter 8: An Old Friend

"Clemont, I'm not lying! There was a fraxure that was staring at me!" Bonnie insisted.

"Bonnie, you have to stop making up such ridiculous stories!" Clemont scolded her.

All of them sat on two of the couches in the Pokemon Center. Clemont and Bonnie sat on one (Dedenne's not _technically_ sitting on it) while Ash and Serena sat hand-in-hand on the one facing it. Pikachu sat in the middle of the two couches, watching the Clemont-and-Bonnie-ping-pong-game.

"There was something else in that place where Terrifang took you, was there?" Serena asked Ash out of the corner of her mouth.

"Uh, yeah," Ash replied honestly.

"What was it?"

"Exactly as Bonnie described… but I don't think I saw the sword…"

"Bonnie, you are going to bed right now so you can stop seeing such strange things!" Clemont told Bonnie.

Bonnie groaned loudly and started to walk off.

"Wait, Bonnie," a familiar voice spoke. "You are right."

Ash turned to see who had spoken and stood straight up, and tugged Serena to her feet by accident.

It was the same fraxure that both Bonnie and Ash had seen. But this time someone was with him: an axew with a smaller sword in its sheath.

Bonnie stuck her tongue out at Clemont, who just simply looked defeated.

"I'll just go to bed now…" he announced, and went to their room.

The fraxure turned to Ash and asked, "Yer Ash Ketchum, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Ash mumbled, still shocked.

The fraxure nodded and asked another question: "Terrifang give you a hard time out there?"

"Um, yeah. How do you know him? Who are you? What is even happening? What's with the scar?"

The fraxure sweat dropped and replied, "It's a long story. I'm Jake and this little girl here is my sister, Luxa. What is happening is that Terrifang is at full power now, and it going to break his shell as a fraxure. I got the scar from Terrifang, and funny thing is that he got one from me."

"Also a long story," Luxa muttered, her voice similar in age with Bonnie's.

Bonnie picked up Luxa, who started flailing. "You're so cute! You wanna come with us?!"

Before Luxa could wrench herself out of Bonnie's iron grip, Jake told her, "Yeah, we're coming along. No doubt Terrifang is after you now…"

He stretched and yawned.

"Well, anyway, we'll be sleeping outside the Pokemon Center. Come on, Luxa."

Luxa happily hopped out of Bonnie's arms and followed her brother. Jake put up a hand in goodnight and walked out.

Ash let go of Serena's hands and did exactly as Jake did.

"I think I'll turn in, too," he grumbled. "Hopefully Terrifang won't get in the way of my training…"

He went up, Pikachu trotting right behind him.

The next morning, Serena stretched, awake. The sun was shining, and she went to looked to see if everyone was still asleep.

Clemont was sleeping quietly up in his bunk, a snore bubble inflating and deflating from his nose. Bonnie murmured something about Luxa while Dedenne made no sound at all.

Pikachu lay on Ash's pillow fast asleep, tucked under his covers.

Wait. Something was wrong with that.

No Ash.

Serena got up, stroked her hair with her fingers, and went downstairs.

As she went to the lobby, she could hear Ash talking… into the PC, perhaps? Someone else was talki…

A girl?!

Serena hid behind a plant; poor choice of cover, but it worked. She looked over to see what was going on.

Ash himself was still in his pajamas, but with shoes. Sure enough, he was talking into a PC and talking to a girl, too. It was hard for Serena to see who it was, but she saw blue hair and a white beanie.

"… _over at the garden. Darkrai contacted me from the PC. Scared the crud out of me. He mentioned something like… a black sylveon? I think that may be an eevee evolution,"_ the girl told him.

"It is," Ash told her. "Don't worry about it, Dawn. We'll be there right away!"

" _Okay, Ash. Thanks. It would be a relief to see a friendly face. Anyway, I need to feed Piplup. He's been getting quite mad… I'll be seeing you!"_

"Me, too!"

He shut it off, and Serena tried to act casual.

She walked into the lobby and asked, "Hey, Ash. How you doing?"

"I'm good," he replied, a strangely nervous smile stretched on his face. Not very Ashlike. "You?"

"I'm okay."

"So, Serena…" Ash twiddled his fingers. VERY not Ashlike. "How would you like to go to Sinnoh?"

"Erm…"

Serena thought. She didn't like the idea of this girl. She may be competition as she and Ash hadn't started officially dating yet.

But it sounded like there was trouble. Darkrai? Not a good sign.

Well, any friend of Ash's was a friend of hers.

"I would like that idea," she said, half-lying.

"Me too," Jake said, approaching suddenly.

Serena scrambled back and gave him a sideways look. Jake now wore a black hoodie that somehow fit with a bloodied dagger design. Behind him was Luxa, wearing a yellow hoodie herself.

Jake regarded them and explained, "I have an old ally there that knows a bit about Terrifang. Hopefully we can drop by his place while we're there."

Luxa nodded, and her eyes started to widen as she was scooped up by Bonnie, who had snuck up on all four of them.

"Can me and Clemont go too, Ash?" she asked Ash with big adoring eyes. "Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…"

"Yes," Ash told her.

Bonnie gasped for breath, and Clemont and Pikachu came in.

Pikachu first gave a disappointed look at Ash and said to Jake, "Pika pi pi pika pi."

"He says he doesn't really like how you snuck off," Jake explained.

Ash bent down and patted his head and told him, "I'm sorry buddy. It was a private call."

Pikachu crossed his arms, but then smiled and nodded in apology. He said a few more things, and Jake translated, "He says you guys are even."

Ash's nostrils flared for a second, then he managed to keep his cool. He looked at all of his friends and asked, "So, we all going to Sinnoh?"

Everybody nodded, except for Luxa, who was still struggling.

"Well, in that case, let's go!"

"After you guys are done changing. Then you can do a freeze frame," Jake pointed out.

 **DAT ANTICLIMACTIC ENDING DOH**

 **So, I've officially decided to name the sequel 'The One Arceus Feared.' I'll post the first chapter on the story when it's posted, and you all can check it out.**

 **Well, that's the end of 'Silence and Secrets!'**

 **1/3**

 **The end is coming…**


	9. Return: The One Arceus Feared

**YOI!**

 **So, in case you haven't read the first installment of the series, here's a little summary:**

 **The gang gets to a town named Seribella, and Ash 'tells' Serena a secret of something dark that happened in Unova (by that I mean a memory was transported to her). The two then keep on getting nightmares of an insane, power-crazed, dark fraxure who goes by the name of Terrifang. Then Terrifang possesses Team Rocket's new machine and encounters a fraxure and loses. The gang then goes to a rock concert, and when one of the songs play, Ash and Serena reveal their feelings in one big kiss. At night, they are met by a fraxure, a good one, named Jake and an axew named Luxa, his younger sister. In the morning, Ash has a PC call from Dawn saying there is an emergency, so the group decides to go there, and Jake decides to go along because he has an old friend there.**

 **Oh, and before we start, an age chart:**

 **Ash: 16**

 **Serena: 15**

 **Clemont: 15**

 **Bonnie: 7**

 **Dawn: 16**

 **Jake: ?**

 **Luxa: ?**

 **Terrifang: ?**

Chapter 1: Black Sylveon

"This is a terrible idea…" Jake muttered from the inside of the luggage.

"Oh come on, Jake," Ash told him, trying to sound confident. "It'll work."

"What about the metal detectors?"

Ash sighed and ignored him.

The gang recently decided they would take a 'trip' to Sinnoh, and now that this was so, multiple things happened at once before they left the town of Seribella.

Lloyd met up with Ash and whispered in his ear, "Take good care of him. I'm sure he'll be of good use."

Lloyd stuck a pokeball in Ash's pocket, and walked off to join his friends.

At the same time, Serena checked Ash's PC to see who he was talking to… only to find herself needing a password to check his activity. She sighed and ran off.

That very moment, too, Jake had to tell Bonnie that Luxa was dying from a lack of air from being held so much, and the blond girl reluctantly put the axew down. Not that Luxa was really losing air, just her legs were becoming numb. Luxa was put down, and she had to sit down for a while before she could stand up again.

Finally, Daniel had given Clemont some kind of material that loses metal traces in metal detectors, a pokemon translator which (hopefully) didn't blow up after some time, and blueprints for him to practice some engineering.

Now here they were, going through the whole boring process before they could get on a plane to Alamos Town. With Jake the fraxure and Luxa the axew in Ash's luggage (hopefully everybody would think he had too many clothes, or it was Serena's luggage and he was carrying it for her), they worried that the two axewlution's swords would be caught in the metal detector, even if the little material was wrapped around the inside of the luggage.

Luckily, as the luggage went through the metal detector, there were no signs of swords… or a fraxure and an axew, for that matter.

The gang took their seats in the waiting area, wasting time for the plane to be ready for takeoff.

Clemont stood by himself to the far right, reading a blueprint on making some kind of machine that only brainiacs knew about. Bonnie and Serena had their own conversation about Serena's next pokemon showcase when she got back to Kalos. Jake and Luxa, still squashed in their luggage, kept grumbling and complaining. Ash, who had fallen dead-cold, kept on dreaming about the Kalos league, and Pikachu slept on his lap.

Ash's thoughts were on beating a trainer in the finals when his dream changed… No, not changed. It was on a different scene. The view became a bit blurry, and the voices sounded like echoes. One person was actually fully visible, and only her voice was audible. Serena ran off the stands, jumped into his arms, and kissed him full on the lips. Ash may not have been able to hear the crowd much, but he could tell they were cheering harder.

Then cheering became screaming. Serena leapt back from Ash, and everything besides him and her were all black. Ash looked behind him and saw… something.

It was black with flashes of dark purple. It was like a shadow, but it seemed to bend and morph but always was humanoid but no legs. It seemed to be spiked, and the sharpest spikes were its eyes: pure red, silted eyes that bore into Ash's heart. There was also something on its right eye…

A jagged diagonal scar.

Terrifang's roar was like a aerodactyl's roar deepened, distorted, and at the volume of an exploud. A giant dark violet blade like a zanbato appeared in his hand and he chased them, holding it in one hand.

Ash started running, and he saw Serena try to catch up. She held out her hand, and Ash tried to grab her…

Terrifang's blade ran her through, and her screams echoed in Ash's mind like that song that would stay in your head for hours.

He started whispering in Ash's mind: _**"Yes… yes… try and run… it will end like this… by the way…**_ Ash, sorry, but can I ask you a question?"

Terrifang's voice had become female, and Ash almost thought that Terrifang was actually a lady.

The dream evaporated, and Serena was looking at him, concerned.

"Ash, you okay?" she asked, a worried expression on her face. "Was it…?"

Ash sighed deeply and told her, "Yes, it's him again…"

Serena did the same and said, "I wanted to ask you a question… when you were on the PC… who was that girl?"

Ash's eyes bulged, and Serena forgot that she wasn't supposed to have seen that.

She waited for him to get angry, or disappointed, or tell her off for spying on him (though, she had done that twice, both on accident).

Instead, he laughed and told her, "That was Dawn, an old friend of mine who adventured with me through Sinnoh. I'm sure you two will get along."

 _I'm suuuure we will,_ Serena thought.

"Flight 1B is ready for takeoff," the announcer woman spoke through the loudspeakers. **(AN: I haven't been in the airport for years)**

When they got on, Ash threw his luggage into a shelf, causing silent cursing.

 **Meanwhile in Alamos Town Gardens**

Darkrai fired another Shadow Ball, but the sylveon merely teleported somewhere else.

He tried for a Dark Pulse, but a black force field enveloped around the sylveon.

This whole time, it has simply been giving him a dark, cold stare.

 **Alamos Airfield**

"Well, looks like they added an airport here," Ash noticed.

It wasn't really on the island of Alamos or whatever you call it. Really, it was just outside.

"You mean there wasn't one here before?" Serena asked.

"Pretty much."

"LET US OUT OF THIS FREAKING LUGGAGE!" Jake shouted.

Ash opened their 'cage', and they ran out. Jake stretched his legs while Luxa kept kissing the ground.

"Why are we here anyway, Ash?" Clemont asked.

Ash scratched the back of his head nervously and was about to say something before an explosion interrupted him. A big plume of smoke rocketed into the air from Alamos Gardens.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Serena shouted.

Ash grimaced and said, "We won't get there in time…"

"Maybe if we had a rhyhorn…"

Something flickered in Ash's mind. He brought out the pokeball Lloyd gave him and threw it in the air.

Something like a scorpion with a man-like upper body faced him.

"DRAPION!" it shouted.

Ash looked at him and asked, "Are you able to run fast?"

"Drap, drapi."

"That's a yes," Jake translated.

Ash got on its back, and Serena went a bit lower with Bonnie on her back. Jake and Luxa took the 'waist.'

"This won't end well for me, will it?" Clemont asked as he grabbed the drapion's tail.

Ash ignored him and said, "Okay, drapion, take us to where the explosion came from!"

Drapion stood there.

"Please?"

Drapion scratched where its butt would be.

Ash checked him on the pokedex.

"Drap, let's go!"

Drap's eyes were half open at this point.

Bonnie, clearly impatient, screamed, "COME ON, DRAP! JUST TAKE US TO THE EXPLOSION!"

Drap's eyes popped open and he ran in the direction of the explosion faster than a rhyhorn.

Within no time, they made it, and Drap bent down so they could all get off.

"What was that all about?" Ash grumbled, kind of disappointed.

"Ash, you made it!" a new voice cried out.

Serena recognized her as the blue-haired girl from Ash's PC call.

Dawn.

The two embraced each other, and Serena's cheeks puffed in anger.

"So good to see you, Dawn," Ash greeted.

"Same goes for you," Dawn replied. She turned and saw the rest of the gang. She skimmed over Clemont, smiled when she saw Bonnie, raised an eyebrow at the axewlutions, and scowled for less than an astrosecond at Serena, but pretended that she was indifferent.

Serena's face went red with anger.

"What's going on, anyway?" Ash asked Dawn.

Then something like a shadow popped into existence.

"Darkrai?" Ash asked. "It's been so long!"

Darkrai nodded in response and told him in a dark voice, "Hello, Ketchum. We are in an emergency right now. There is a sylveon…"

He was cut off by Jake gagging, and the fraxure asked, "What… color is he?"

Darkrai looked offended by being cut off, but he replied, "Black. Red eyes. No bows. Ribbons look jaggedly cut. Fangs. British accent."

"That's a bit much but oh… my… Arceus."

Ash looked at him worriedly and asked, "What is it?"

"That's my old friend: Darkeon."

Meanwhile, a big brawl was happening between Darkeon and the pokemon of the gardens. They all tried to shoot him with high pressured blasts of water, lighting bolts, and blasts of fire. Darkeon casually teleported or covered himself with a force field before making a large burst of dark energy.

"ACCEPT ME!" he shouted, his voice in a British accent.

"Darkeon, stop!"

Darkeon stopped attacking and looked over at the voice. His eyes widened with shock.

"J… Jake?" he stammered.

Jake sighed and said, "Yes it is. What in the WORLD do you think you're doing?!"

"They never accepted me, Jake. Just because I was black with red eyes. Just because I had no bows and torn ribbons. Just because I had fangs and I could talk."

"Yeah, doesn't mean you can attack them!"

"Why not?"

"It's not how we roll, remember? Like everyone else? Each one of us is not allowed to attack the innocent, remember? We all made a vow, Darkeon. A _vow_."

Darkeon's face went timid. He looked around at all of the pokemon.

Then he looked over at Darkrai and bowed so low his nose was a centimeter off the ground.

"Please excuse me, Darkrai," he apologized. "I have not followed my vow, so therefore I shall redeem myself the way you choose to."

Darkrai considered him and told him, "I excuse you. I believe in second chances, so there is no need to redeem yourself with hard tasks unless you do it again. You shall take some time to think and that's all I shall give you."

Darkeon somehow bowed lower and whispered a thanks.

"Well, that was easy," Bonnie commented.

Dawn sighed and told her, "That's actually something to the side of it…"

Ash gave her a sideways look and asked, "What is it then?"

"Did you notice that there is no one here besides us and the pokemon? Even the airfield outside of town is pretty empty, right?"

"Now that you mention it…"

"There are some terrorists or cultists or something trying to attack us. They call themselves the Fourth Legions and… Ash… their pokemon are not normal at all."

 **Wat.**

 **So, uh, yeah. Here's some quotes to give junk away:**

 **Darkeon: He's coming back, Jake**

 **Issac: Hello, my friends. I'm Issac, and this is the Fourth Legion**

 **Don't have much. Hope you enjoyed!**

 **BTW, there's a pretty important poll on my profile (there's two, but one is more important). Check it out now!**


	10. Q&A

**Hey guys. It's Shadow.**

 **So, to wrap up this story I'm making a Q &A chapter. Here are the rules:**

 **The character you are going to ask must be in the story. They have to be named. It can also be someone in the chapter one of the sequel.**

 **Nothing R34 related. You know they hate that.**

 **You can ask them why they were stupid at some point or something, but don't just be flat out rude.**

 **Don't command Serena to go (fart) off or something.**

 **You can ask everyone one question each.**

 **Check the review section in case someone asked something already.**

 **Don't ask stupid questions. Make sure you know them before asking a question.**

 **If you don't follow these rules, you will be visited by Terrifang.**

 **Guest characters I will invite if you want more variety (they will be present):**

 **Jase (Killing Spree series)**

 **Jim (Killing Spree series)**

 **Calem (Pokemon)**

 **Raven (Teen Titans)**

 **Bravenwolf (Tenkai Knights)**

 **Foxy (FNAF)**

 **Donatello (TMNT)**

 **Siris (Infinity Blade)**

 **Alpha (Block Fortress War)**

 **Happy (Fairy Tail)**

 **Hatty Hattington (Battle Block Theater)**

 **Ask now!**


	11. Question and Answer

Question and Answer

Terrifang's fist glowed purple, and he flew straight at Ash.

"Ash, watch out!" Serena cried.

Then Terrifang stopped in midair. His fist stopped glowing. And he fell to the ground.

"What was that?!" he demanded.

Then a little letter flew into the sky and landed in between Ash, Serena, Pikachu, Clemont, Bonnie, Jake, Luxa, and Terrifang.

Clemont picked it up, inspected it, and opened the flap. There was a paper in there.

 _To everyone there,_

 _I know you got this. I have invited you to my place so you can, ah, answer some questions._

 _Don't kill each other on the way here._

 _Love, ShadowKnight49 Productions_

Terrifang shook his head and said, "I'm not not killing you."

He attempted to pull his fist back, but he started floating in some direction, unable to move freely.

"What is going on?!"

After some awkward silence, everyone trailed after him.

Terrifang 'led' them to a decent sized house, kind of blocky and unpainted (red paint was flaking off), but a lot of talking was emitted from inside.

Terrifang was set down near the black door, and he spun around, dizzy.

"Okay, where are we?" Ash asked.

"Shadow! The guests are here!" a male but high-pitched voice called from inside.

They could hear several locks click from inside, and the door opened to reveal a… turtle on two legs with a purple bandanna and a staff.

He smiled and said, "Come on in!"

He moved out of the way, and the guests walked inside.

It was pretty spacious, with a thirty meter high ceiling, and walls that went ten meters apart. The room they could see was a living room, with a TV, couch that looked like it was made from memory foam, a lamp, Xbox and Wii consoles, and a tiny fridge.

"Have a seat, have a seat," the turtle told them.

Clearly, nobody wanted to question the ninja turtle.

Wait… ninja turtle?

Ash squinted and asked, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

The turtle laughed and told him, "Must be my TV series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I'm Donatello, by the way. And don't bother with introductions. I know all of you! Ash Ketchum and his partner Pikachu. His future waifu Serena… Um… don't mind the spoiler… Clemont and Bonnie the blondies… you should work on those inventions, by the way, Clemont. Terrifang, the incarnation of fear, and Jake and Luxa the talking axewlutions!"

Everybody, even Terrifang, had dot eyes and a long, straight line for a mouth.

"Wait right there," Donatello told them. "I'll be right back. Help yourself to stuff from the fridge."

He ran off. Upstairs, most likely.

By the time he came back down, the whole group had made a pile of soda cans.

A robot just stared at them. Well, it was hard to tell, but he was probably angry.

It was most likely a male, based on plain looks. It had a square, black body without legs. A cube acting as its head, also black, stood on it like a hunchbacked man. Its head had two, square blue eyes and a grate for a mouth. Out of its back were four rods, two pointing upward off its back and two pointing horizontally outward. Each one had two blue cubes on them. It had bulky black arms and held some kind of gun like a black, blocky rifle with a blue muzzle… laser gun, perhaps.

"ASSIMILATE GUESTS," it said. "THEY HAVE DRUNK MOST SODAS. PREPARING TO ANNIHALATE."

It aimed its gun at all of them.

Some girl had the gun float out of his hands, obvious due to the black glow on the gun and her hands.

"Alpha, you should stop trying to kill everyone," the girl told it in a monotone.

Alpha crossed his arms and turned away.

 **(at this point, I'm tired of giving descriptions. Luckily, this is the internet. Look them up or whatever)**

The girl looked at the guests and introduced, "Hello. I'm Raven. Don't bother introducing yourselves."

A different robot-like creature glanced at them and asked, "I'm kind of disappointed that your show doesn't include much with the weapons… oh well. Name's Bravenwolf by the way."

A robotic looking fox with a pirate's attire told Bravenwolf, "Man, there's no need to be rude about it. After all, the anime is awesome!"

"I didn't mean that as an insult, Foxy."

"Where is everybody else, anyways?" Shadow asked his friends.

"I got calls from everybody else. Siris said something about a worker, Hatty has some friends quarreling, and Happy is doing some Natsu stuff."

"Oh, okay. So anyways, where's the mail?"

In response, a small storm of letters came out from the ceiling onto the floor, creating a tiny white mountain.

Ash scratched the back of his head and asked, "So, what's with all of the mail?"

Shadow laughed and told him, "Q and As! Questions from fans that you guys are going to answer… or something. That means my friends, too."

He sat on a spot to the end of the couch and reclined on it.

Out of curiosity, Clemont picked a letter from the pile. He ripped it open.

"'Hey Ash, what would happen if you were a hybrid of a Lucario? A very powerful one who has an aura of the Lucario that you met in the Hoenn Region,'" he read.

Ash rubbed his chin in thought.

"I could do a lot of things," he thought aloud. "I would probably get rid of Team Rocket, Magma, Aqua, Galactic, and Plasma. Well _definitely_ Team Rocket."

He took out a letter himself and read it.

"'Donatello, why is it that in the 2012 version,' the one you look like right now, 'why do you have a gap tooth? Also, why do you need glasses in 2014?'"

Donatello sighed and said, "Raph and Michael Bay. In that order."

Serena ripped open a letter.

"'Serena, what do you think of Romanticshipping?'" she read.

In response, Shadow asked, "I think I know."

He brought out a remote control for a TV and pressed a button on it. A crash dummy hanging from a noose fell from the ceiling.

Serena considered it and told him, "Basically."

Shadow pressed another button, and the dummy went away.

Bonnie excitedly tore a letter open.

"'Alpha and Foxy, who would win in a rap battle between you two?'" she read aloud.

"WE DID THAT LAST WEEK," Alpha replied to the letter. "I WON. BY A LANDSLIDE."

Foxy slapped him behind the head but made no argument.

"SON OF A GUN."

Alpha shot one of the letters, easily showing off the card and its question.

"'DO _ANY_ OF YOU HAVE A 'RELATIONSHIP' WITH RAVEN?' SURELY NOT."

"Obviously," Raven grunted.

Jake took one himself.

"'Terrifang, will you ever tell us who your parents are?'" he read.

"No," Terrifang said.

Terrifang tore another one open.

"'Clemont, will you ever catch Luxa for Bonnie?'" he asked.

"No," Clemont told him to the relief of Luxa.

"'Bravenwolf, are you jealous that Pokemon is the only anime left on Cartoon Network?'" Ash read from another letter.

"No," Bravenwolf said, deadpanned.

He took one and ripped it open.

"'Serena, what do you think of all of Ash's other relationships?'"

Bravenwolf looked up from the letter to see Serena pointing a pistol at his head. Bravenwolf put his claws up in surrender.

There was only one letter left. Shadow himself opened it.

"'Everybody, who would win in an all-on out brawl? That means Ash and them have to fight themselves, too.'"

The moment he finished reading, Shadow took a poleaxe from nowhere.

"It is on!" he yelled.


End file.
